1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to improving methods of introducing samples of tissue products to consumers. It enables tissue manufacturers to present samples of their products (new and old) to consumers so they can test the tissue themselves prior to purchasing it.
In particular, the present invention relates to a free-standing newspaper insert containing a sample or samples of thin, absorbent paper such as toilet tissue, paper toweling and facial tissue.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past free-standing advertising inserts have been developed which have been distributed with newspapers. Various types of products including cosmetics, paper products and even razor blades have been sampled using a newspaper insert as the carrier.
To the best of my knowledge two methods have been used in the past to produce newspaper inserts for sampling paper toweling. A first method used in producing inserts for "Bolts" paper toweling of American Can Company, involved the following steps:
1. A four-color folder was printed in large sheets by the sheet fed process. The sheets were cut apart, to size 23".times.11-1/2" and folded to 11-1/2".times.11-1/2" (four page folders).
2. American Can's Bolt toweling which is produced in jumbo rolls 102" long and 108" in diameter was unwound and cut manually to samples 11".times.11".
3. The four-page folders and sample toweling were delivered to a bindery where the folders were opened and the 11".times.11" pieces of Bolt were glued to the folders near the center of the top edge. The four-page folder was then refolded.
This procedure proved to be unsatisfactory for several reasons. First, since it requires a significant amount of hand labor, the cost of tipping the samples is prohibitive for quantities of several million. The cost for tipping the toweling samples by this method is about .noteq.60.00 per 1,000. Second, the manual tipping of samples into the insert is relatively slow and is not well suited to the production of large numbers of advertising inserts. Third, the manual process is inaccurate and unwieldy because of difficulties involved in handling lightweight sheets of tissue and glue. As a result the sample sheets may be skewed in orientation within the folder. This can result in part of the sample sticking outside of the folder and makes the insert less attractive in appearance. Fourth, in the event the manufacturer of the tissue being sampled wants the consumer to test it by washing or wiping a window pane, glue from the glue spot may scratch the window.
A second method was used in producing an insert containing "Job Squad" paper toweling of Scott Paper Company. The insert was apparently produced as follows:
1. The four-color folder was printed via web offset to size 17".times.11-3/8". It was then folded to 10-3/4".times.11-3/8".
2. The Job Squad toweling was manually cut to 10".times.11-1/8" as was done per step 2 of the first method.
3. The four-page folders and sample toweling was obviously delivered to a company that specializes in tipping products because this is apparent from the attached sample. Here the sample toweling was glued into the folder with a glue strip about 4-1/2" long. As is the case with the first method, the four-page folder had to be opened to glue in the toweling sample and then closed.
This second method also is unsatisfactory. First, the sample toweling extends 1/8"past the trimmed right hand side of the four-page folder and is not attractive. Second, when the sample of toweling is removed, it can have an unattractive upper left hand corner which can have small pieces of coarse glue. Third, although the second method is more mechanized, the printing and tipping operations obviously have to be done in two plant locations.
"Collators" have been used for many years to produce unit set business forms with a carbon paper layer between original and duplicate copy layers. In the past, however, collators have not been used in the production of advertising inserts for absorbent paper tissue products such as toilet tissue, paper toweling, or facial tissue.